I went to the gun show today and I had no intentions of buying a gun but I have always wanted a 38 revolver. As we were waling by one table a couple had one for sale, S&W Model 10-8, not in the best of shape, they wanted 275.00, I wasn't going to pay that and being terrible at negotiating I walked on. As we were leaving I decided to go back by the table, as we were talking I asked the owner what the lowest was he would take and he said 225.00 so I bought it. Now I cannot decide if I want to try and touch up the bluing or just have her cerakoted. I like working on guns so I may give the bluing a try. I will post pictures when I start. In your opinion do you think I paid too much, the gun is about 75%, but then again I am not a good judge of condition. She locks up tight, there is very little play in the cylinder and the bore looks bright and shiny

Older Smith and Wesson prices are really getting up there. I have seen
one's as you described up to $350 around here in the northeast. It
sounds almost like a LE carry gun - carried a lot, but shot little.

I'd probably try the cold blue before refinishing. Clean, degrease, heat,
and apply the bluing. I did this with a beat up model 19 that I got a few
years ago. I came out ok.

That's a good price for a S&W M10.
As far as the bluing, if it is just a shooter, why bother spending money for the finish? Maybe a little cold bluing if it really bothers you. But I like character in some of my revolvers. And some that I got that were pristine, well, I keep them that way as much as I can. Guns are tools, not a Rembrandt......

About 25 years ago when all the police departments were switching to autos I was at a gun show where a guy had three tables of S&W 10s and Ruger Service Sixes, $150 for a blued or $165 for a stainless. I wish I had scrounged up the money to buy a whole bunch more now.

__________________"The secret to happiness is freedom, and the secret to freedom is courage."

What would be the reason for trying to do
finish work? Going to be packing inside a
pocket or waist band in sweaty conditions,
all weather use, resale value, just like
to keep your guns looking sharp, etc. . ?

Your answer to that question is going to
determine what is the best option for you.

Me personally I would probably either
leave it be as others have already
suggested or I would take her completely
all apart every piece separated and sort
out what needed reblued and Chuck up the
steel wool jag in the drill a open up a
pack of steel wool and prep everything
then get out the old steel can outside,
mix up the appropriate chemicals and get
it up to temp and carefully put everything
in the pot and keep everything in the pot
for as long as I dared to result in as
strong and as deep of a bluing as
possible. Do the usual cool down and
rinse cycle then reassemble and relube.

I'd end up with a revolver that looked
like the 1950's Haitian military arsenal
refinished it like they did with most of
their guns which had the living heck blued
out of them. For maximum corrosion
resistance in a salt water tropical jungle
island environment not for winning any
beauty contests.

Basically, if I'm going to take the time
and effort to reblued a gun I'm doing it
for corrosion resistance and all weather
use and being handled and carried when
exposed to human and pack animal sweat.
And I'm darn well only doing it once so
I'm going to blue the heck out of it to
make sure it sticks for my lifetime at
least. Bluing is a chore I'm not all that
fond of but when I do it I use the old hot
methode not the new fangled cold blueing
that is only a month of holster wear deep.
Handguns are a lot easier then rifles, big
long parts are your enemy.

Your Mileage May Vary!

Edited by turbo1889 on July 15 2018 at 6:10am

__________________What part of, "the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be INFRINGED" don't you understand ?!?!?

To the most serious charge of "ARMING WOMEN" I plead guilty on multiple counts.

There are suddenly a lot of M-10s on the
market........some
really nice ones.......
I wonder where they all came from ??? LEO trade ins ???

Many of the large security companies that contract armed guards to
banks and large companies are still carry model 10s and 64s. Maybe
they are replacing their handguns. I'd like to pick up a pencil barrel
model 10 or 64.

Had my Model 58 Cerakote Coated and am very pleased. She
was ruff before and now looks great.... Chance of me
selling it are pretty slim so far. I believe it may
actually have added to the value (that's how rough it was
before)
Maybe an idea for that M-10.....

If I found a Model 10 in good mechanical shape for $225,
even with a sorta rough finish, I would snatch it up just
as fast as I could get the money outta my pocket. Like
mentioned above, a good 38 is a very nice thing to have..

I have a several model 10's and a few model 15's and one 67. All great revolvers. The prices asked for them in this area is way over $225, if you can ever find one for sale.

I was watching an episode of World's Scariest Police Shootouts a while back and had a video of two guys robbing an armored car of $1.8 million dollars. The guard outside fired two aimed shots at their car and they could be seen hitting the asphalt about 10 feet in front of him. Maybe they needed to keep their revolvers.

I was watching an episode of World's
Scariest Police Shootouts a while back and
had a video of two guys robbing an armored
car of $1.8 million dollars. The guard
outside fired two aimed shots at their car
and they could be seen
hitting the asphalt about 10 feet in front
of him. Maybe they needed to keep their
revolvers.

Don't fully understand, what is the they you are talking about?

The robbers (as in he shot the two robbers
one shot each and the robbers hit the
asphalt dead or wounded about 10 feet in
front of him.)

OR

His shots (as in the guard shot the ground
10 feet in front of himself and the
robbers got away.)

__________________What part of, "the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be INFRINGED" don't you understand ?!?!?

To the most serious charge of "ARMING WOMEN" I plead guilty on multiple counts.

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